Winter weather to miss Wilmington

The winter storm that is expected to cause hazardous conditions through most of North Carolina will miss the Wilmington region, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Wilmington.

"We're mostly just going to get a lot of rain; about 3 inches," said Victoria Oliva, a meteorologist at the Wilmington NWS office. "The snow is going to stay west and north of us."

According to a statement by Gov. Roy Cooper, the mountains and foothills regions of the state are expected several inches of snow as the storm churns through the Tar Heel State over the weekend, with the weather service warning of up to 11 inches of snow in some areas.

"Everyone needs to be ready for cold temperatures, hazardous driving conditions and the possibility of power outages," Cooper said in a statement.

Oliva said parts of Columbus and Bladen may see flurries, but that New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties will not see winter weather.

"Locally, we're just going to see a lot of rain," she said.

According to the NWS forecast, Wilmington will see low temperatures hovering around the high 30s or low 40s and high temperatures in the high 40s or low 50s over the next several days.

Oliva said most of the state will see the worst of the winter storm on Sunday morning. In a bulletin, the weather service warned of hazardous road conditions for those choosing to travel over the weekend.

"Travel could become very difficult or even impossible. Road conditions could deteriorate as early as Saturday evening, with highway travel continuing to be impacted through early next week," bulletin said. "Visibility may drop to less than a half mile during periods of heavy snow."

The weekend's rain, which Oliva said would start Saturday afternoon and continue through Monday, will inch Wilmington closer to surpassing 100 inches of annual rainfall for the first time. The monitoring station at Wilmington International Airport has recorded 95.83 inches of rain in 2018.

The total, thanks to a record-setting rainy summer and the 23 inches dumped by Hurricane Florence, has already shattered Wilmington's previous record of 83.65 inches set in 1877.

Reporter Tim Buckland can be reached at 910-343-2217 or Tim.Buckland@StarNewsOnline.com.